


From Broken Homes and Battle Scars to Where We Are

by Tito11



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, On Hiatus, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-06
Updated: 2013-08-06
Packaged: 2017-12-22 15:46:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/915041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tito11/pseuds/Tito11
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"That was why they were both back here, in the neighborhood where their parents had lived together, once upon a time, attending public school for the first time in nine years. Ludwig had a bad feeling about the whole affair."</p>
            </blockquote>





	From Broken Homes and Battle Scars to Where We Are

**Author's Note:**

> longtime lurker in this fandom, but apparently I can't get enough of high school AUs, so here's this thing i accidentally wrote :)
> 
> title from TAI's "Paper Chase"

“Cheer up, West. This is going to be awesome!”

Ludwig looked out the window of the car toward the school and didn’t answer.

“You know, brother,” Gilbert continued, barely slowing the car as they pulled into the parking lot. “You’d think that with as hard as I worked to get us kicked out of military school, you’d be a bit more grateful.”

Strictly speaking, Gilbert had been the only one who had been kicked out. But their father didn’t like the idea of Ludwig all alone halfway across the country. That was why they were both back here, in the neighborhood where their parents had lived together, once upon a time, attending public school for the first time in nine years. Ludwig had a bad feeling about the whole affair. 

Ludwig grimaced as they nearly hit another car, but he was too used to his brother’s driving by this point to be too worried. For all his recklessness, Vati seemed to trust Gilbert, and that, more than anything, put Ludwig at ease.

He tried to put the nervous tension out of his body, but was hampered by the fact that Gilbert was pulling into a parking spot. Gilbert always parked so messily, with one or the other of his back tires very nearly out of the line, and it always drove Ludwig nuts. Whenever he drove, which wasn’t as often as he’d like, since it was Gilbert’s car, he always made sure he parked perfectly straight and left an even amount of space on either side of the car. 

“We’ll be late,” he said, once the car had stopped. He didn’t want to sit here and dwell on all the things that could go wrong, so he climbed out of the car and walked quickly toward the front doors of the building.

Gilbert hurriedly climbed out behind him and rushed to catch up. “Shit, West,” he hissed, falling into step beside him. “I bet girls go here. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve seen an actual girl up close?”

Probably nine years, just like it had been for Ludwig. The Academy had been boys only, and while they were on break over the summers their father had always taken them on extended camping trips. The eagerness in Gilbert’s voice made him pause, though. 

“Brother,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “You don’t like girls.”

“I might,” Gilbert scoffed. “You don’t know. It deserves some experimentation. Besides, I’ll be the best looking guy these girls have ever seen. They’ll be eating out of my hand by lunchtime.”

Ludwig snorted. He doubted Gilbert would know what to do if a girl actually wanted to eat out of his hand. Besides… “You’ve never had a problem with guys before,” he pointed out. Ludwig didn’t have a problem with guys either. He knew he was attractive, and even had a bit of experience. His brother, though, was a notorious slut. He’d systematically made his way through every willing guy at the Academy. Even the professors. Even the old professors. Ludwig shuddered just thinking about it.

 

After he and Gil had filled out the appropriate forms and been given vague directions to their lockers, they parted ways. Senior lockers were on the other side of the building from the junior ones, so with a grim nod to his brother, who grinned cheekily back, Ludwig headed off on his own. It took Ludwig almost ten minutes to find his locker. When he finally did find it, the door was stuck. So far, his day was going about as well as he’d predicted. After a few frustrated minutes of jiggling the handle, the door finally banged open. Ludwig stared in horror at what he saw. Inside his locker was a boy. Ludwig wasn’t sure which one of them was more shocked.

“What are you doing in there?” he splutters after a few awkward moments.

The boy smiled and, with much difficulty, climbed out of the locker. Ludwig wasn’t sure how he’d fit inside in the first place.

“I tripped,” he said, nonsensically, straightening his shirt. He looked Ludwig up and down with open appreciation. “Ve, you’re really pretty.”

Ludwig spluttered again, unsure of whether to be more pleased at the compliment or indignant that the boy had used the word ‘pretty.’ He bypassed both and came up with incredulity. “Who are you?” he asked, his voice raising more than he would have liked.

“Feliciano,” the boy said. “Are you new? I’m new, too. I was at the middle school last year. We should be friends, since we’re both new. What’s your name?”

“Ludwig,” he answered automatically. Then he asked “friends?” rather weakly. This boy was a bit overwhelming.

“Yes, of course!” Feliciano said. “You’re big and strong so you can protect me from the bullies and I can come over to your house after school. I bet you’re smart, too, so you can help me with my math homework. And I can make you pasta!”

Before Ludwig could answer, someone shouted “Feliciano! There you are. I’ve been looking all over for you!” Ludwig turned toward the boy who was running up to them. He looked very much like Feliciano, though his hair was darker and his face was twisted into a scowl. 

“What the fuck are you doing, Feli? You can’t just go up to creeps like this guy and start talking to them.” He nodded his head toward Ludwig as he said this. “He’s probably some kind of freak or pervert.”

“Ve, but Lovino,” Feliciano said, his face still not losing its smile. “This is my new friend, Ludwig. Isn’t he pretty?”

Lovino leveled a glare at Ludwig, who only raised his eyebrows a bit.

“Come on, little brother,” Lovino said, putting his hand on Feliciano’s arm and dragging him down the hall.

“Good bye, Ludwig!” Feliciano called as he went. “I’ll see you at lunch!”

Ludwig blinked a few time, then, deciding the whole thing must have been a hallucination, began to put his things inside his locker.

 

If pressed or quite possibly tortured, Gilbert would admit that he wasn’t quite as excited about this whole new school business as he’d pretended to his brother. He really had worked hard to get kicked out of military school (and it took a serious lot of doing, too, because of the amount of blackmail material he had on all the professors that he slept with) but he hadn’t really thought the whole thing out. That was the story of his life, really, not thinking before he did something he couldn’t take back. He didn’t know what he had been picturing while setting the Academy’s Math and Science building on fire, but he supposed he had a vague idea of never having to go back to school again at all. He was almost eighteen, after all, and Vati had no right to be so strict about this kind of thing when he himself had never even finished high school.

“It was a different time,” he’d always say when Gilbert brought it up, but that was bullshit and Vati must have known it, because he always changed the subject or made Gilbert go clean out the garage or something any time he brought it up.

Not that Gilbert especially wanted to join the army, like Vati had. After all, he could have just stayed at the Academy for that. He’d never had the knack for it, though, not like Ludwig did. The physical stuff, sure he could do that, but even he could see that he was terribly insubordinate and also kind of destructive. He would have been a terror in the army, just like he was a terror at military school, which might have been fun in the short term, but in the long run would have ended in tears for everyone.

He did feel a bit bad about getting Ludwig taken out of school, though, for all that he would have missed him terribly if they’d been separated. Ludwig had been the star of the school, and even if it wasn’t exactly easy to be constantly compared like that to his younger brother by everyone all the time, he was a bit proud, too. The kid really did well at the Academy, just like he did well in everything he’d ever faced. That’s how he’d gotten his nickname, “West,” short for “West Point,” because that was the kind of guy he was, determined and disciplined. Gilbert could never be either of those things. Really, he was just glad Ludwig hadn’t seemed too mad at him about having to move back.

Of course, he didn’t seem too excited about the whole thing, either. Gilbert watched Ludwig walk away, determined but uneasy, toward where the junior locks were, according to the office lady. Whether either of them would get hopelessly lost was up for grabs, really. Then he turned, and headed into the crowd of students to find his own locker.

To his surprise, Gilbert found the thing fairly easily. It was number 399, which seemed like a fantastic number, now that it belonged to Gilbert. He made things awesome just by his sheer presence, and this locker was no exception. He didn’t have any books yet, but he’d been saving a few firecrackers just for this occasion. He set them lovingly on the top shelf, admiring how they spiced up the place for a few moments before breaking away to go find his first class.

The class was math, nothing special. When he got into the room, there were a lot of kids already in there, and Gilbert pushed away the nerves he absolutely did not feel. He was awesome and these kids would all realize it soon. All he had to do was fake it until then. He chose his seat very carefully, between a tall blonde boy with glasses and a pretty brunette girl.

West had been right; Gilbert didn’t have much experience with girls, but no time like the present to get some. He sat down and turned to the girl, giving her his best leer.

“Hello,” he said. “I am Gilbert and I am new and I am going to do you a favor by becoming your friend.” He looked her up and down and decided quickly that he rather liked her girly curves, even with the stupid school uniform blocking his view. “Maybe more,” he added.

The brown-haired boy on her other side, the pretty one with the glasses and the cowlick, hmmphed when Gilbert said this and turned up his nose. The girl just narrowed her eyes. “I’m Elizaveta,” she told him. “And I would punch you in the face for being a creep, but I’m being good right now, so you’re in luck. But if you try anything, I won’t be held responsible for my actions.”

“Fair enough,” Gilbert said, holding up his hands in surrender. She was feisty, and he was pretty sure he liked that in a girl. He certainly liked that in a guy, so the transition made sense. “In full disclosure, though, I’m going to touch one of your boobs eventually. At least one.”

“You can try,” she said, ominously, but her frown had become a smile. Apparently she liked feisty in her guys, and Gilbert bet she had never met anyone as feisty or as awesome as him.

As the teacher started class, Gilbert sat back and smiled. This girl, she was going to be so much fun, he could tell already. This year was going to be awesome, just like Gilbert. He only hoped Ludwig was finding friends, too. If not, though, that would be okay. After all, he had Gilbert as a brother, and that was better than any friends anywhere. With a little bit of luck, nothing would even get set on fire this year.


End file.
